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Hindsight: The Forrest-Gould Affair 150 years ago

Bedford Forrest was famous among his troopers for his hot temper. He demanded, and usually received, the very best efforts his men had to offer. He commanded, he compelled, he directed — he did not suggest or hint.

There is a well known story of one of Forrest’s scouts who reported that “a local farmer saw so and so.” Forrest dragged him bodily from his horse, slammed him to the ground, placed the muzzle of his pistol between the soldier’s eyes and hissed, “If you ever again bring me a piece of information that you did not see with your own eyes, I will shoot you down like a dog!” This act had a galvanizing effect upon the rest of Forrest’s scouts.

In the summer of 1863 Forrest and his cavalry were stationed at Columbia guarding the left flank of Bragg’s army at Shelbyville. During this time, Union Col. Abel Streight launched a cavalry raid across Alabama in the rear of the Army of Tennessee. Forrest and a body of his superb cavalry gave chase.

It was during this chase that the harassed Union raiders turned upon their pursuers at Days Gap and laid an ambush. Lt. Andrew Wills Gould, in command of a section of two artillery pieces, was moving along with the pursuit. The ambush succeeded in killing off the draft horses and the guns were captured. Forrest blamed Gould for the loss.

Upon their return to Columbia, Gould received orders that Forrest, blaming him for the loss of the guns, was having him transferred to another command. Gould took this as a mortal insult and instantly rode to the William Galloway House on West Ninth Street in Columbia where Forrest was staying with friends. Forrest and Galloway were both pre-war businessmen and close friends.

Gould knocked on the Galloway’s door and interrupted both the general and his host family while they were having lunch in the dining room. There was an angry confrontation at the front door between the two. Forrest ended it by saying that he would meet Gould at the headquarters in downtown Columbia later in the day. Forrest then slammed the door in Gould’s face and returned angrily to his lunch.

The headquarters that Forrest referred to was the old Masonic Hall, now demolished, that stood on the northeast corner of West Seventh and North Garden Streets. The Masonic Hall sat back from the street behind a small courtyard and all that remains of this old building is the ornate wrought iron fence that surrounded the yard. The fence is now in front of the home at 500 West Seventh Street.

Gould’s friends tried to dissuade him from risking another confrontation with Forrest, but the young man remained adamant. They did, however, insist that he take a weapon with him. He thrust the small pocket revolver into his duster pocket.

Later that day, Gould strode into the front door of the Masonic Hall. Forrest stepped out of an office into the hall and the conversation was instantly tense. Tempers and voices rose as they continued the argument.

A gaggle of young boys were standing in the courtyard — their eyes wide at the growing ruckus. One of the boys was Frank Smith, the son of ardent Confederate sympathizer Franklin Gillette Smith. Frank would later become Maury County’s first county historian. It was his eyewitness account that told us what happened.

The argument soon boiled out of control. Gould was heard to exclaim, “No man can accuse me of cowardice and both of us live!” The scene now becomes a blur but Smith’s impression of what happened was that Forrest drew his folding knife from his pocket and moved forward “menacing” Gould. Gould fumbled with the revolver in his pocket but the hammer hung on the lining. Gould fired through the pocket, striking Forrest in his left abdomen, and he finally ripped the pistol free of his coat pocket.

Forrest, with his left hand, seized Gould’s pistol hand and forced it up and away. With his right hand, he opened his knife with his teeth and plunged it between the upper ribs, deeply through Gould’s chest and well into his left lung. In an interview after the event, Forrest said, “I could see in his eyes that my blade had run true.” Wounded, both men fell back, lurching for neutral corners.

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